1878 SEASON
The 1878 baseball season is almost upon us and as ever there are plenty of changes to get used to this year. Four leagues add new teams and two new club leagues are getting underway, along with a new university competition in Scotland. Among the leagues not changing their structure, the Metropolitan League clubs have voted to play six practice games before the season, following the end of the County Championship, as many did not like the long wait between that tournament and the start of the league campaign. The fourteen teams will be split on the basis of whether they are located north or south of the River Thames, and play the other six in their group across seven game days, with one day off.
Elsewhere, the Birmingham and District League becomes the sixth league to allow professional play, with the move leading the Old Wulfrunians to change their name to reflect their new status and move away from being a school old boys club. They will now be known as Wolverhampton Wulfruna, with a new jersey design featuring two letter ‘W’s placed one above the other, in a similar design to that used by Wigan in the Liverpool and District League. The Birmingham and District League will not change its format for the first professional campaign, as it is believed to be planning to grow from ten clubs to twelve for the 1879 season and so the format will inevitably have to change then.
NEW TEAMS
LIVERPOOL AND DISTRICT LEAGUE
The Liverpool and District League expands for the second time and now contains ten teams. From the growing seaside town of Southport come
Sea View Southport, whose name is a clear reference to their location near the seafront. Their colours are gold and blue.
Widnes Alkali are the former works team of one of the chemical factories in that town, now turned professional as they join the league. They play in deep indigo blue jerseys, with thin stripes in a paler shade of blue. The format sees midweek games played across fourteen weeks in the middle of the season, although each team plays on only twelve of those weeks, having two Wednesdays with no scheduled game. The ten teams are split into two geographical groups of five, and play four games against every opponent and two more against the four other clubs in their group for a total of forty-four games.
L-R: Sea View Southport, Widnes Alkali
LEEDS AND BRADFORD LEAGUE
The Leeds and Bradford League grows to twelve clubs, and will also have a forty-four game schedule, although a simpler four meetings with every other club, the same format as used by the Manchester and District League.
Keighley Turnpike take their name from their location alongside the old ‘turnpike’ toll road which links the town with Kendal, some 55 miles to the north-west. They play in blue jerseys with a monogram of the letters ‘KKT’, referencing the Keighley to Kendal Turnpike. Although the trust which runs the turnpike is in the process of being dissolved, the club are set to maintain their name in recognition of the history of the road. It should be noted that the name of the town should somewhat unusually be pronounced ‘Keith-lee’. The other newcomers are
Sheepscar Tannery, another former works team from a northern suburb of the city of Leeds. They play in jerseys in a shade of tan to reflect the leather industry, with an image of a sheep embroidered on the chest to reflect the name of their home district. Their home field is less than one mile from that of reigning Leeds and Bradford League champions Woodhouse Lane.
L-R: Keighley Turnpike, Sheepscar Tannery
SURREY COUNTY LEAGUE
The Surrey County League expands for the first time, growing to eight teams and seeing the schedule reduced from thirty games to twenty-eight. From the small town of Godalming come the
Old Carthusians, the old boys’ club for former pupils of Charterhouse School. Formerly based in London, the school relocated to Godalming just a few years ago and will now take part in organised baseball having apparently sought and received a guarantee that the league will not turn professional within the next decade. The club play on the school grounds and wear maroon jerseys with stripes in two shades of blue. The other newcomers are
Pilgrim’s Way, from the nearby town of Guildford. Their name comes from the location of their home field, which is passed by the supposed route taken by pilgrims from Winchester in Hampshire to Canterbury Cathedral in Kent. They wear blue jerseys with the club name embroidered in black.
L-R: Old Carthusians, Pilgrim's Way
BRISTOL AND DISTRICT
The Bristol and District League expands northwards into Gloucestershire with the admission of clubs from Cheltenham and Gloucester.
All Saints Cheltenham were formed by parishioners at All Saints church to the east of the town, and play on a field nearby. They wear lilac coloured jerseys with a white panel on the chest, featuring an embroidered initial letter ‘C’ topped with a halo in reference to their name.
Gloucester Chequers take their name from the Chequers Bridge which carries the Great Western Railway over the road which passes close by their home field. In reference to their name, they wear chequered jerseys in a similar style to the Surrey county team, albeit with a smaller pattern. Their colours are red and gold which feature on the traditional city arms, with those arms being embroidered on their jerseys. The schedule remains at thirty games, with four meetings with every opponent and two extra games against a geographically paired rival, largely at the request of the two newcomers to enable them to play more games against one another.
L-R: All Saints Cheltenham, Gloucester Chequers
NEW LEAGUES
CHESHIRE COUNTY LEAGUE
The Cheshire County League has been formed in an attempt to accelerate the possible admission of Cheshire to the County Championship, and it begins with six teams playing a thirty-game schedule. Chester Roodee play their home games inside the city’s racecourse, and take their name from it. They wear the city’s ancient arms on their jerseys, which are coloured blue with red and yellow stripes. Formed by parishioners from St Stephen’s church, Congleton St Stephen’s play on a field immediately alongside the churchyard. They wear pale blue jerseys with the club initials embroidered in gold. The name of Coppenhall and Crewe is taken from both the ancient parish in which the club is located and the new town of Crewe which has grown up around the railway industry in the area. They play in dark green, with trimmings in two shades of grey.
Formed by workers at the town’s Albert silk mill, Macclesfield Albert play on a field a short distance from the mill and wear yellow jerseys with thin green stripes. The name of Northwich Salt is derived from the importance of the salt mining industry to the town of Northwich, with many of the club’s players employed in the industry. They have recently been forced to move their home field away from areas where the mining has caused problems of subsidence, and now play alongside the River Weaver near the centre of the town. Their jerseys are black with stripes in white and brick red. Having turned down a place in the Liverpool and District League to play in Cheshire instead, Runcorn Delph are the final team in the new league. Named after a bridge near their home field where players used to meet on the way to practice, they wear red jerseys with a large initial ‘R’ embroidered on the chest.
Top Row L-R: Chester Roodee, Congleton St Stephen's, Coppenhall and Crewe
Bottom Row L-R: Macclesfield Albert, Northwich Salt, Runcorn Delph
SOUTH WALES LEAGUE
The first league in Wales gets underway with eight teams, playing a twenty-eight-game schedule. Several proposals were made for a thirty-game schedule but the teams could not agree on the make-up of the additional games, so a simple format of four games against each opponent will be used. Six of the clubs come from the county of Glamorgan and the other two from Monmouthshire, after the initial plan to form a Glamorgan County League was extended.
Three of the Glamorgan clubs come from the large settlements along the coast. Cardiff Arms Park take their name from their home field, which in turn took its name from the Cardiff Arms Hotel which stood alongside. They play in red jerseys, with thin stripes in a darker shade of red. A couple of miles to the north of Cardiff, and in many ways considered to be a second Cardiff club, are Llandaff Cathedral, formed by worshippers at that cathedral and playing in a field alongside it. Their jerseys are black with yellow and red stripes. Swansea Bay, as their name suggests, play in a coastal setting with their home field just outside the town to the south-west. The venue has also played host to rugby and cricket and is known as a fine setting for sports. The team play in dark blue, with their initials embroidered in silver.
The other three Glamorgan clubs come from the valleys. Rhondda Valley are situated amongst the many fast growing mining communities in the valley of the Rhondda river, and their home field lies in a still relatively undeveloped area in the middle of the valley, a location chosen to allow players and spectators from communities at either end of the valley to travel there more quickly. Their jerseys are an orange colour, featuring a large black ‘V’-shaped chevron with the initial letter ‘R’ sitting inside it. From the town of Aberdare come Cynon Plain, whose name derives from their location on the flood plain of the River Cynon. Their field is, understandably, renowned for becoming easily waterlogged and they will be hoping not to suffer too many postponed games. They play in blue jerseys with green sleeves, and a green panel featuring the club’s initials as well as a letter ‘A’ for Aberdare. St Tydfil’s Well come from the town of Merthyr Tydfil and take their name from that of the saint whose name the town carries and the holy well associated with her. Their home field lies near to the reputed site of the well in the grounds of the large Pen-y-Darren House, which are commonly used for sport and recreation. The club play in amber coloured jerseys with maroon trimmings.
The final two teams come from the county of Monmouthshire. Newport Marshes play on the northern edge of the town on a field alongside the River Usk and are another team whose venue has been liable to flooding in the past. Just as their field suffers similar problems to that of Cynon Plain, their jerseys are similar in design if not in colour. The play in yellow with red sleeves and feature a white panel on the chest, on which the club’s initials are embroidered. Finally, Ebbw Vale Steel formed as the works team for the town’s steelworks, although their home field is at the opposite end of the town as there is no suitable flat land closer to the works. Situated almost 1000 feet above sea level, the field is believed to be the highest in use in any league across Great Britain. The team play in striped jerseys in two shades of grey.
Top Row L-R: Cardiff Arms Park, Cynon Plain, Ebbw Vale Steel, Llandaff Cathedral
Bottom Row L-R: Newport Marshes, Rhondda Valley, St Tydfil's Well, Swansea Bay
SCOTTISH UNIVERSITIES CHAMPIONSHIP
The four Scottish universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews have agreed a format to play the first student competition in Scotland, after much argument about the most practical arrangement of games given the distances between the teams and the time taken for the train journeys. The final decision was to schedule double games every Saturday for twelve weeks, allowing each team to play the others eight times for a total of twenty-four games. The arrangement allows for teams to travel the day before the game and be hosted by the home university for a night, with games beginning at 1pm and the second meeting starting as soon as the first ends. The four teams have agreed to review this format at the end of the inaugural season.
Top Row L-R: University of Aberdeen, University of Edinburgh
Bottom Row L-R: University of Glasgow, University of St Andrews
